New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1887-08-10

sss DIG An IS On Ao NTAflA
Habits and Hhunts OF the Grace
full Antelope How They Make.
Friends with tho Untamed Reef
Cattle--A Preventive against snow
Blindness.
A Fort Keoghs Montana corresponds
ent of The C1evelaasd Leader writes: Not
all the wild game animals have dis
appeared from Montana yet / note a
peculiar thing among the beef herds
this year, the like of which I have.
never seen since the days Of the bison,
which once tenanted these hills and
valleys in countless thousands. In
crossing the northwestern plains as far
back as 1879, 1880, and 1881, it was an
very-day occurrence to run upon many
herds of buffalo, some of them so large
that it would require all the way from
one to three days to pass through them.
l remember such was the case in the
winter of 1875 while our command was
chasing Sitting Bull and his myrmidons
toward the British border. Lining the
Red Water, and stretched out over a
broad expanse of country, was a
tremendous herd. of bison that must
have numbered close on to l0O,0 900
head, for it took US nearly seventy two
hours to pass through this monstrous
mass of living creatures, who made
a Tor rrIyy +
way. Even the fourth day found us
wandering through the tail end of the
herd, which was continually on, the
move in some direction. On this same
expedition we would frequently en-
counter large bands of antelope, some
thing like punches of one thousand
head, more or less, but we ALWAYS
found it a difficult matter to approach
within reasonable shooting distance Of
these gazelles of the plains, owing to
their keenness of sight acuteness of
smell. and nimbleness of foot Once
sighted by antelope, it meant a shot at
400 yards and beyond, or not at all.
But now comes the remarkable discoy-
cry | made of the habits of the ante
lope, and which believe are not put
down in any OF the books which tell US.
and are supposed to know, all about
the ways, customs, aud habits of this
beautiful game animal. As remarked,
400 yards was near for
shot if discovered, although 800
and 200 yards have been gained
by close creeping and rawling if
neither scented nor seen. On the
other hand, buffalo might be APP
preached almost with impunity up to
250 yards. but the ring of rifle brin es
on big scare, when off bound the bio
fellows at 2:4O gait and are soon lost
to view in the distance and dust of the
prairie. Now it happened while hunt
ing bison that became aware of this !,
fact. that antelope associate with.
browse in company, and keep a sort
Of curious friendship with the big un-
wieldy brutes. I observed scattered all
through the buffalo herds numerous
mem bers of the antelope family, and
also that they seemed to be bereft of
fear when in such good company, for
very seldom did oberserve them take
to their heels even when rode down
the bison and scattered them right and
left. On one occasion after sending
about 600 buffalo scampering over.
the hills, I saw dozen or so antelope
who hung in the rear and on the tanks
of the herd, seem ngly loath to take to
their heels and seek safety in flight:
rode up to one buck, actually ap-
proaching to within twenty five yards
of him, and shot the fine fellow with
my revolver. This brings me to the
point [ have been endeayorine to-
reach. In place of the buffalo, we now
have as tenants of our plains and val
leys thousands upon thousands of beef
cattle. These ANIMALS run loose the
year round, and from the freedom of
the range and merely rounding up
twice a year, have become about as
wild and as free as their predecessors
the bison. Let no unsophisticated
tenderfoot of the east imagine the beef
cattle of the western plains are similar
to their cousins ranging on the orien-
tai side Of the Mississippi Beef herd
ing by whites is not so very much I'M
like buffalo-herding by reds. The only
difference is the matter of branding.
A cowboy exhibits marvellous skill and
courage in the way he handles the
rope and iron, and verify believe that
if the buffalo were still here in place of
the present beef herds the cowpunchers
of Montana would round them up as
easily as they could handle the herds Of
to-day.
A calf born on the range is brought
up on the range until ready for market.
It has the same wild associations that
the buffalo had before it, and what
wonder if the yearling becomes the
same in nature and habits2 So the
cowboy in riding down and rounding
up beef cattle is really handling a lot
of wild animals who are simply incapa-
BILE of domestication, and only fit for
veal and beef.
Strange to say, the hills and valleys
of Montana this year show greater
number of antelope than at any time
since the season of 1891 Tho corra